The Raptors made believers of the mighty Heat, even as a stirring five-game winning streak came to an end on Sunday.

Toronto failed to move into third place in the NBA’s Eastern Conference and dropped to 10-4 since the trade of Rudy Gay, but hung with the two-time champs and three-time finalists all evening, even leading by five after three quarters.

It came right down to the bitter end, before Miami put the contest away with free throws in a 102-97 win behind 30 points from LeBron James, 17 from Michael Beasley and 14 from Dwyane Wade.

Toronto missed nine freebies, shooting just 57% overall from the stripe and that proved extremely costly in the end.

“They played like champions. We missed a lot of easy shots that we should make,” said head coach Dwane Casey.

“You shoot 57% from the free throw line you’re not going to beat too many people. I don’t care if it’s Miami Heat or Miami-Dade High School.”

The Raptors were led by 26 from DeMar DeRozan and 17 from Amir Johnson. Jonas Valanciunas strangely struggled on the boards, allowing Miami, last in the league on the offensive glass, to collect 14 offensive boards to Toronto’s seven.

“That’s not acceptable for us. Our interior people have to do a better job of finding bodies,” Casey said.

Still, Toronto again showed it can compete against any squad in the NBA.

Down one inside of the final minute, the usually reliable Johnson couldn’t convert inside. After Wade sank two free throws, Kyle Lowry had another chance, but rimmed out a three-pointer.

After a great first three quarters, a Raptors offence that had been operating at peak efficiency for 36 minutes was stymied by the Heat’s defence. Toronto failed to score in the first four minutes of the fourth and with James looking like his unstoppable self, the momentum of the evening changed.

Still, the Raptors look very much for real and the rest of the league respects the team for the first time in years.

“They’re playing very well,” said ex-Raptor Chis Bosh, who said Toronto’s spread offence made the Heat work extremely hard.

“We knew it was going to be a very competitive game coming into it.”

Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said Miami has definitely noticed Toronto since the trade.

“Other guys have been able to emerge. They’re playing fast, quick, athletic. They did it a little under the radar with this trade.”

But the Raptors have been spotted and things are only going to get tougher from here, starting with a date Tuesday against East leader Indiana.

“Now guys are going to be throwing even heavier haymakers than before and we have to respond to that,” Casey had said sagely after a win Friday against Washington.

“This is a good measuring stick for us, as the Indiana game was. You’ve got to play the best and see where you are, see where our weaknesses are.”

Casey said he didn’t believe in moral victories, but agreed the contest could be used as a building block.

DeRozan agreed.

“It says a lot. People are going to have to worry about us when we come in into their building, or they come in our building,” DeRozan said.

“(We’re not just a) scrub team, we’re going to go out there and give it our all.”

Leaving it all out there might be a cliche, but it’s carrying the Raptors right now closer to the top of the East than the bottom.

It has been a long time since that was an accurate statement.

“They are the back-to-back champs and they have one of the best players in the league in LeBron but we were still in it,” DeRozan said.

“We made a couple of key mistakes late that cost us, but it shows you where we’re at, and with that said, it shows us where we need to get better.

Due to a severe winter storm in Indianapolis, the Raptors stayed overnight in Miami Sunday and will get a chance to get better in practice on Monday.

Tyler Hansbrough, missed in this one because of his rebounding prowess, won’t be with them. He missed the game and won’t play Tuesday either due to a sprained left ankle.